Personally I don't get the hype with any of these products. Just because they run Linux by default isn't a strong enough selling point when I can get better specs for cheaper elsewhere and install Linux myself.
If one can afford to pay the higher price, then Star Labs' (or System76' etc) laptops will offer far superior Linux support. Modern hardware from non-'Linux-first' vendors have shown causing troubles with 'deep sleep'. Issues like these can and have been resolved on Star Labs' (or System76' etc) devices. Furthermore, they don't only sell 'Linux-laptops', but they also contribute to the upstream of coreboot and other Linux projects. Thus, by buying their laptops, one is actively contributing to that cause.
This. If you've ever bought a laptop and then realized you couldn't use the touchpad or thr WiFi because it wasn't supported in Linux, you'd see the importance of a vendor that explicitly supports linux.
I've also been in charge if buying laptops at work for employee's. After a few devices wouldn't work 100% in Linux, we only bought devices that were explicitly made for Linux. It's not worth the risk of throwing $1k-$3k at a device only to learn later that it's not usable.
It looks like a typical, modern laptop. There's hardly any ports on it, it uses a non removable lipo battery, and charges with a fragile USB C connector.
I want a big, swapable battery that uses 18650 cells, a robust charging connector, a full set of audio jacks, ethernet, and lots of USB A connectors. USB C connectors don't belong on a laptop unless they are easily replaceable like on the framework laptops.
The USB C connectors are way easier to break than a large barrel jack and they wear out faster too. If the USB C port is soldered to the motherboard, then you are in for a very expensive repair.
I've been using my Thinkpad that only charges over usb-c for 5 years now and the port is still like it was new. Can't see why this is an issuse, especially that I used to have issues with some barrel port chargers and needed to replace them. On a contrary I now have charger with a plugin so simple that it's unlikely it will break anytime soon and finding replacement charger is super easy as it is FINALLY a single standard port. I actually have 2 such chargers because of SteamDeck and they both work with both devices.
Even if the connector in my laptop broke, there's second one that I only used few times + replacing it would be easier as it's not a big deal to find fairly standard connector to be resoldered, and with older laptop chargers there are many different variants of proprietary connectors.
I have a Thinkpad that has both the USB C and the traditional Thinkpad charging port.
I normally just use the USB C port, but I do like having both available.
Even if the connector in my laptop broke, there’s second one that I only used few times
Unless your Thinkpad and mine differ -- and maybe they do, given that mine has both the traditional and USB C charging ports, so a total of two -- only one of the USB C ports can charge the laptop. On mine, both USB C ports can do USB PD, but one is in/out and the other is out only.
I want a big, swapable battery that uses 18650 cells,
I mean, me too. I think that having less than a 100 Wh battery is nuts, but it's essentially impossible to find them.
I think that a couple of things have killed this:
Cost. Cutting battery size is an easy way to cut cost, and it's less-explicit than, say, cutting RAM, as vendors often list a non-standardized "hours of battery life".
USB PD plus external power stations. I think the expectation is that one will get one and having the user just use external ports makes life easier for the vendor and means that they don't need to deal with counterfeit batteries and such. Also moves heat out of the laptop. I would be more sympathetic to this if there were a standard for a laptop to start automatically drawing from an external USB powerstation when its internal battery gets low, rather than requiring manually-triggering charging.
Weight. Apparently some people are super-rabid about laptop weight.
You are conflating good and powerfull. The basic 1800£ one from then isnt even that powerfull. Half price from samsung or something would be the same. It's just not worth it, not by a long shot.
Just be careful with this. I bought a $2k laptop with crypto. When it broke and they refunded me in crypto, it was pegged to the fiat amount. So the price slip meant I lost ~$500 on a 100% refund
I am not sure about the haptic feedback on the trackpad! I hate it on a phone. It is too jolting!
If it is tap to click that is also aweful - at least on Plasma, as the palm rejection is not very good.
Hopefully it can be turned off and has a physical click.
As I said above, I have only had haptics on the phone - and I disable it!
On a trackpad I want to be the one doing the pushing - not something else!
Why exactly is it better?
How is it not tap to click - force sensor or not? It is not like using a Theramin is it? Your fingers must be touching/tapping the touchpad, no?
On top of that, any bit of interfering palm sensation is a great annoyance that I would rather avoid!